Good Start to the New Year!

Two weeks ago Scott and I assembled the hull in a dry-fit to see how things worked. We had a couple of challenges that slowed us down but we were able to get things figured out.

Two mutually exclusive factors got in the way of the actual gluing of the hull - the bottom panels needed to be glued together, and the assembled hull takes up virtually all the space in the shed. I had to take the hull apart so I could glue the bottom panels together.

Getting that preliminary stuff done, we were ready to go this afternoon. Scott, his wife Sandy, and I met at the shed around 2:00 this afternoon. Once we got going the boat went together much easier today than during the dry-fit. The dry-fit was an excellent dress rehearsal for the real deal, and having a third person to help was a big help, indeed.

The only perceived anxiety came after everything was glued and screwed together. The diagonal measurements to check alignment were off by 30mm (plans say up to 10mm is okay). Almost time to panic... but Sandy asked if it made a difference that the two sides were on different sawhorses? Well, yeah, it could... and it did! The two horses supporting the aft section of the hull were on slightly different levels. Once we placed the stern on a single horse the diagonals had a difference of only 3mm - well within the plan specification. The anxiety disappeared. I am pleased with this result.

Here are some pictures of this afternoon's effort:







We plan to turn the hull over tomorrow to bevel the chine-logs and to fill the few gaps between bulkheads and hull panels. With a bit of luck, we'll be fitting the bottom on Sunday.